Kushner: US set to present peace plan with or without Abbas

Trump’s senior adviser told Al Quds newspaper that he will publicize the US peace plan whether or not the Palestinian president is ready to talk. 

By: World Israel News Staff

“I am ready to work” with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the son-in-law and adviser to US President Donald Trump Jared Kushner in an interview published over the weekend.

Kushner’s caveat was Abbas cooperation, which had to materialize and that if it failed to do so would trigger a decision “to make the plan public” anyway.

The husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, Kushner confided that this would be the American plan of action in an interview with the Palestinian newspaper Al Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

“If President Abbas is ready to talk, then we are prepared to take part, but if it’s not the case, then we are going to go public with the plan.”

Abbas’s spokesman has claimed that America’s peace plan was “a waste of time and is destined to fail.” The reaction articulated by Kushner to that prognosis was that “because it’s [the Palestinian leadership is] afraid that we are going to publish our peaceful plan that will be liked by the Palestinian people.”

“I am ready to work with President Abbas, if he wants to” was the headline chosen by Al Quds for the article published in Arabic.

“You deserve a promising future, now is the time for Israelis and Palestinians alike to support their leaderships and concentrate them on a solution,” Kushner said.

Abbas, Kushner said, “says that he is committed to peace, and I don’t have any reason to disbelieve him.” However, “I question President Abbas’ ability, or desire, to finish the deal. He has the same talking points that haven’t changed in the past 25 years. A peace hasn’t been achieved during that period.”

Kushner said he did not “have a desire to divulge the specifics of the deal.” He did say, however, that the plan would be presented “soon.”

He added: “I believe that in order to reach an agreement, both parts are going to gain more than they’re giving, and both sides will feel confident that the life of their people will be better decades from today because of the concessions that they’re offering.”

Kushner emphasized the economic benefits of a deal, saying that he believed “we can attract large investments in the infrastructure from both the private and the public sectors” to improve the Palestinian economy.

Kushner’s time was spent “listening, and focusing on the people” Kushner said, which made his plan different from previous attempts by the US to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We are committed to finding a package of solutions the two sides can live with. Resolving fundamental issues without creating a path for a better life will not lead to a lasting solution.”

Palestinian leadership distrustful

Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat, a leading negotiator for Abbas, accused Trump’s advisers of undermining the PA by supporting Gaza via humanitarian aid.

The aid’s goal was to entrench Hamas in Gaza and undermine the PA.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Kushner, Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in Jerusalem on Friday.

“They discussed the means by which the humanitarian situation in Gaza can be alleviated, while maintaining Israel’s security. They further discussed the continued commitment of the Trump Administration and Israel to advance peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” the White House said in a statement after the meeting, providing no additional details.